How about you make pizza with your kid?

July 13, 2015

How about you make pizza with your kid?

Making pizza might be the most fun and easy meal to make with your kids. We make this one, which we call “Rachael Ray pizza,” all the time. It's adapted from a recipe from Every Day With Rachael Ray Magazine.

We also make a quick (really!) homemade pizza dough using these steps:

Mix one cup of very hot (not boiling!) water, a packet of fast-acting yeast, and a teaspoon of sugar and let stand in a bowl for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt to the yeast mixture (which should look bubbly) and mix it around.
Add 2 and 3/4 cups of flour and kneed it all together for a few minutes until it’s smooth. I do this right in the bowl. Add more flour if it’s too sticky. Substituting up to 1/2 cup whole wheat flour is yummy, too.
Rub all over with a bit of olive oil and cover with a towel for at least 10 minutes, but 20-30 would be better.

Waiting for dough to rise is hard!

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Mince a few cloves of garlic and mix with 5 tablespoons of olive oil, a big handful of dried parsley, salt and pepper. Toss the oil mixture with 2 cups of baby spinach and drained and chopped artichoke hearts. (I actually squeeze the extra water out of them, too, so the pizza isn’t soggy).

Now call your kid into help!

Look at that rise!

When you’re ready, sprinkle some cornmeal on a cookie sheet that’s lined with foil, parchment, or a silicon pan liner.

Punch down the dough.

Turn the dough onto the pan and work it to the edges until it’s spread out.

Doing this with olive-oiled hands helps

Sprinkle the dough with 1-2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (I like more cheese, but you might like less). Spread the spinach and artichoke mixture on top of the mozzarella, and sprinkle ¼-½ cup of grated Parmesan on top of that.